Walter Schmid

Walter Schmid is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences of Arts and Sciences Lucerne, Switzerland. From 2003 until 2016, he was Dean of the department of Social Work.

As a trained lawyer with a PhD, he served from 1983 to 1991 as the Director of the Swiss Refugee Council. He worked in many expert groups of the Swiss government and of NGOs. Later, as the Director of the Social Services of the City of Zürich, his services were responsible for the housing, training and social care of many thousand asylum seekers in the nineties.

As Vice Chair of the Federal Commission for Foreigners, he set up the national integration program from 2000 to 2007. Internationally, Walter Schmid served as Chair of the European Council of Refugees and Exiles from 1991 to 1999. He participated in international working groups dealing with strategic challenges of migration policies. He was also member and Vice Chair of the Club of The Hague’s board.

Walter Schmid is also a well-known expert in social policies. For many years, he was Chair of the Swiss Conference of Social Welfare and member of many governmental and international working groups. He served as a board member to the European Social Network and the International Council of Social Welfare.